GOP Congress Prepares Surrender to Obama on Education

Establishment Republicans in Congress are quietly plotting their next massive surrender to the Obama administration, a “bipartisan” education bill that solidifies federal control of schools and keeps Common Core while entrenching a dizzying array of unconstitutional “education” schemes. Among other measures, the legislation re-authorizes most of two widely criticized and totally unconstitutional federal education statutes known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB). It also expands pre-kindergarten schemes and federal control over the youngest Americans while keeping lawless mandates on states. And while opponents are up in arms about the scheming, the radical, lobbyist-backed legislation has the Obama administration, the GOP establishment, Big Business, Big Government, and Big Labor celebrating.

According to multiple news reports, Congress is sending a pair of massive education bills — one passed by the House, the other by the Senate — to a conference committee this week. As The New Americandocumented in July, both versions are packed with unconstitutional measures, including taxpayer-funded handouts to cronies, more powers over education for the lawless Obama administration, more federal testing schemes, and much more. In the conference committee, lawmakers are expected to iron out the differences between the two bills before voting on the “compromise” again in the full Congress and sending it to Obama to be signed into law. The White House has already signaled its support for the legislation, so if activists cannot stop it in Congress, analysts say the monster bill will likely be enacted. Media reports said lawmakers may hold a vote on the final product as soon as this month.

“We believe we have a path forward that can lead to a successful conference, and that is why we are recommending to our leadership to appoint conferees to take the next step in replacing No Child Left Behind,” said a joint statement released by the top Republicans and Democrats on congressional education committees. “This is a law that everyone wants fixed, and teachers, parents, and students are counting on us to succeed. Our efforts to improve K-12 education will continue to reflect regular order, providing conference members an opportunity to share their views and offer their ideas. Because of the framework we’ve developed, we are optimistic that the members of the conference committee can reach agreement on a final bill that Congress will approve and the president will sign.”

Unsurprisingly, crony capitalists in favor of Common Core are celebrating the effort and demanding even more federal control over education. “Both the Senate and House versions of ESEA legislation contain elements that business leaders support, but more needs to be done to deliver a meaningful education to our students,” President John Engler with the crony capitalist Business Roundtable, a major supporter of Common Core, wrote in a letter to lawmakers last week. “A strong K-12 education is important to the success of all students in our nation and, in turn, to the future of the American economy. ESEA offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make that future as bright as possible.” The letter did not specify why crony capitalist CEOs believe the federal government is constitutionally allowed to, much less able to, deliver an undefined “strong K-12 education.” For virtually all of America's history, that responsibility mostly remained with families, churches, and local communities, all of which are increasingly being sidelined.

Among other demands, Engler and the Big Business CEOs he represents are pushing for more “accountability” of schools and teachers to federal bureaucrats — code word for submission to unconstitutional federal mandates. And in a move likely to further inflame the ongoing parental and teacher uprising against dumbed-down “education” from Washington, D.C., the Big Business lobbyist also told lawmakers to unconstitutionally coerce state governments into forcing at least 95 percent of students to take federally funded Common Core tests. The Business Roundtable, of course, represents the CEOs of U.S. and foreign companies such as bailed out-mega-banks Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., as well as Big Pharma, Big Oil, and more — in essence, the Big Business wing of the globalist establishment.

Radical teachers unions responsible for much of the engineered decline in U.S. education were celebrating the draconian bill, too. “Today we are a step closer to rewriting a federal education law that commits America to the success of every student regardless of ZIP code,” claimed the National Education Association's (NEA) Lily Eskelsen Garcia in a statement. “While we welcome this progress, our work is not done. We look forward to working with the congressional conference committee members to ensure that we produce a bill that, when signed by the president, gives every student the opportunity, support, tools, and time to learn.”

Outside of Big Business, Big Government, and Big Labor circles, however, education experts and activists were not amused by the latest GOP betrayal of the voters who put them in office to stop Obama. In a series of blog posts, for example, Charlotte Iserbyt, author of Deliberate Dumbing Down of America and a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Education in the Reagan administration, urged Americans to flood congressional phone lines demanding a “no” vote on the “compromise” legislation. Director Neal McCluskey with Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, meanwhile, dissected some of the worst elements of the bill and noted that it was all “unconstitutional.”

If it is unconstitutional, which it is — Congress has no delegated authority to meddle in education, and the 10th Amendment specifically prohibits it — then all lawmakers who take their oath of office seriously must vote no. The New American will publish another article on opposition to the scheme soon. Republicans, though, who ran on promises of reining in and stopping Obama, must reject this radical scheme to further empower an administration that is out of control. From imposing Common Core with bribes and bullying to backing “community schools” to further sideline parents, the current White House has accelerated the decades-old dumbing-down agenda like no other in history. If liberty, real education, and prosperity are going to survive into the future, the radical Obama-GOP pseudo-education agenda backed by Big Labor, Big Business, and Big Government must be defeated.

Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American, covering economics, education, politics, and more. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU. He can be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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